The Black-and- Yellow Grosbeak 



The trouble is that scientific men to-day 

 form a brotherhood, a hierarchy, which lays 

 claim to infallibility, or rather tacitly assumes 

 infallibility. 



They form a league into which none are 

 admitted except those who take the oath of 

 allegiance ; and, of course, to expose the weak- 

 ness of the scientific doctrines of the time is 

 equivalent to violating the oath of allegiance. 

 Now, the man of science who has to earn his 

 living by his science, has either to join the 

 league or run the risk of starving. This 

 explains how a small coterie of men has 

 things very much its own way ; how it can lay 

 down the law without fear of contradiction. 

 If a man does arise and declines to accept the 

 fiats of this league, it is not difficult for the 

 members to combine and tell the general public 

 that that man is a foolish crank, who does not 

 know what he is talking about ; and the public 

 naturally accepts this dictum. 



The only scientific men who, as a class, are 



characterised by humility are the meteorologists. 



I always feel sorry for the meteorologist. He 



has to predict the weather, and every man is 



able to test the value of these predictions. The 



zoologist, on the other hand, does not predict 



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